| Election Name: | 1980 Onehunga by-election |
| Country: | New Zealand |
| Flag Year: | 1980 |
| Type: | presidential |
| Previous Election: | 1978 New Zealand general election |
| Previous Year: | 1978 general |
| Next Election: | 1981 New Zealand general election |
| Next Year: | 1981 general |
| Turnout: | 13,600 (50.23%) |
| Candidate1: | Fred Gerbic |
| Party1: | New Zealand Labour Party |
| Popular Vote1: | 6,543 |
| Percentage1: | 48.12 |
| Candidate2: | Sue Wood |
| Party2: | New Zealand National Party |
| Popular Vote2: | 5,336 |
| Percentage2: | 39.24 |
| Candidate3: | Thomas Keith Park |
| Party3: | Social Credit Party (New Zealand) |
| Popular Vote3: | 1,535 |
| Percentage3: | 11.29 |
| MP | |
| Before Election: | Frank Rogers |
| Before Party: | New Zealand Labour Party |
| After Party: | New Zealand Labour Party |
The Onehunga by-election of 1980 was a by-election for the electorate during the 39th New Zealand Parliament. It was prompted by the death of Frank Rogers, a Labour Party MP. It was held on 7 June 1980[1] and was won by Fred Gerbic, also of the Labour Party.
It was held the same day as another by-election in Northern Maori.[2]
As Onehunga was a safe Labour seat, there was a large amount of interest in the candidacy from the local Labour Party. In 1975 Rogers had won selection over 26 other aspirants for the seat after Hugh Watt retired. Initially, there was intense speculation that party president Jim Anderton (who was the proprietor of a business in the electorate) would stand.[3] However he eventually declined, fulfilling a promise he made at the 1979 party conference that he would not stand for parliament at, or before, the next election.[4]
The candidates for the nomination were:[5]
Despite the large number of candidates, three had emerged as frontrunners by the time nominations had closed; Douglas, Gerbic and Jelicich. The selection meeting was a rancorous one with many local members resentful of interventions by the party head office and candidates from outside the electorate.[6] The local members were supportive of Douglas and Jelicich, with Labour leader Bill Rowling and the party hierarchy favouring Gerbic. The meeting took several hours, running so late that the decision had yet to be made at 1:30 am, the cut-off time for printing, and thus could not be reported in the morning newspapers.[7] A floor vote of the local party members was clearly won by Douglas, with Jelicich second and Gerbic third. Two of the local members on the selection panel backed Jelicich with the other local member, and the three head office selectors voting for Gerbic, giving him the nomination. His success as the nominee was announced by Anderton to the 400 members present at 2:45 am.[8]
The chairman of the Onehunga Labour electorate committee, George Madden, was controversially denied a place on the selection panel. As such, there was allegations of the panel being "stacked" to favour head office.[6] Several Onehunga Labour members went as far as to resign their membership, pledging to instead vote for the Social Credit candidate in protest. Gerbic's selection was, however, openly welcomed by Anderton, Rowling and Sir Tom Skinner.[9]
Three people sought the National Party candidature.[10]
Wood was chosen as the National candidate. She was strongly backed by leader Robert Muldoon and party president George Chapman.[11]
Gerbic took a leave of absence from his job as an Industrial Conciliator, he was not classed as a civil servant under the electoral act and therefore not obliged to resign. He was however cautioned by the Minister of Labour Jim Bolger on the future of his position should he lose the election. Bolger's comments were in retaliation to Gerbic criticizing the government's handling of an industrial dispute during construction of the Mangere Bridge.[14] The controversy surrounding the Labour nomination notwithstanding, the campaign was free from any acrimony between the candidates and their supporters. The by-election was a low-key affair with little public interest.[13] Consequently, turnout dropped over ten percent.
The following table gives the election results: